Hello, I have tried to research this. I have found the built in help system hard to follow and cannot find where this particular problem is answered. I have also tried posting this question to usenet, with no satisfactory response.

I am using Emacs 21.3.1 under FreeBSD 6.1. I want to change the default font size AND the default font type permanently, by making a entry into the .emacs initi file.

Normally, i temporarily change the size AND type of font by holding down shift and left clicking the mouse button. I then get a menu of fonts and always select this:

courier (type)
18 (size)

MY QUESTION:

Please show me precisely what I need to write in the .emacs file in order for the courier (type) and 18 (size) to be made my default font type and size.

Currently, my .emacs file simply has the entry: (set-default-font "9x15"), which is a bit larger, but i do not like the font type. Thats why I need a specific reply to this, if possible.

Thanks

KenJackson

10-03-2006 08:34 AM

There are some shortcut names like the "9x15" you are using (also "8x13"), but normally it expects the X font name like this:
-MAKER-FAMILY-WEIGHT-SLANT-WIDTHTYPE-STYLE-PIXELS-HEIGHT-HORIZ-VERT-SPACING-WIDTH-CHARSET

You can run these commands (at least on Linux, probably on FreeBSD too) to see what fonts are on your system:

Code:

xlsfonts ## This displays system fonts
xfd -fn fontname ## This pops up a window displaying it

Thanks, -I'm sure the available fonts are the same for Linux and FreeBSD...but could you help me by identifying:

1. The full name of the font type AND size for courier 18?

2. The exact wording that i need to place in the .emacs file, so it will be started automatically eash time.

Thanks 4 help

KenJackson

10-03-2006 08:48 PM

OK, I fired up FreeBSD in VMware, which I hadn't done in some time. This worked. The first line just prints to stdout so you can see you've isolated one font name. The second command pops up a window showing you the font. You can toy with the grep arguments to get different choices.

BTW, this is a really old thread. It wouldn't hurt to start a new one.

jrocher

01-14-2011 04:03 PM

A more visual way to do this is to click
options>set default font...
then to pick what you like and then click
options > save options
This will modify your .emacs file automatically and you don't need to know the complicated names of fonts.

hth
Jonathan

KenJackson

01-14-2011 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrocher
(Post 4224633)

options>set default font...

Ah! Very good.
I never would have thought of that because I never see the menu. I always have these in my .emacs file: